marie-madeline studio

{my new favorite skirt}

And I adore it!

I purchased the pattern here and added a few inches for the colder weather that's coming. It was really simple to make, although I quirked it enough for you and me. The bag??? Oh. I got it at Target. Isn't it adorable? The sweater is an incredible sale buy from Lands' End Canvas. It makes for the most comfortable fall outfit yet. (Although my mommy, sisters and me are working on more such outfits!)

While I'm writing this post, my Nan, Paps, and sisters are headed home after a long, fun and busy weekend at Quilt Market. (I'll try and persuade them to share pictures!) I can't wait to hug them to pieces.

love- Abi

fall

Well. Fall is finally here. And we're not exactly sure where it came from!

Apphia, Achaia, Nan and Paps are in Houston now, attending the annual Quilt Market. And while they're gone, the rest of us girls are trying to be good, and are doing a lot of fall & winter sewing! 

What's going on in your fall days?

Real men love quilts!

 

Meet Big E, the boss at S&H Farm Supply in Joplin, MO.  And his Happy Scrappy quilt.  He thinks he'll call it Ol' Brownie, because of course this quilt has to have a name like all his others have had.  (Yes, he's had others!)

See?  Real men do love quilts.  (Along with loving big tractors and John Wayne.)  We used the blues and browns from Jennifer's versatile West Indies collection for this Happy Scrappy... we thought it was just the thing for Big E.

So now you know what to make your dad/husband/brother for Christmas!

The Winners! (finally....)

Oh, you all are probably wondering when we were going to be announcing our bundle winners, weren't you??  Well, the wait is over!  So, let's get started.....

Samara Alger wins Shabby Chic

KathyH wins Loulouthi

Christine (redhead) wins West Indies

Roxanne wins Honey Child

Congratulations, ladies!!  Please just send us your address, and we will get your goodies headed your way!  Of course, as usual, we wish we could give all of you something... thank you from the bottom of our hearts for everything.

By the way, we loved hearing everyone's favorite movies!  Some of them were very familiar, while on the other hand, there were a few we'd never heard of.  Well, we just couldn't stay out of the fun, so below you'll find four of our favorite movies.  Yes, we only asked for one of your favorites, but since it's our blog we're taking the liberty of upping it to four for us!  (We are completely horrible at making decisions....)

Kristie~

San Antonio with Errol Flynn, Dallas with Gary Cooper, My Favorite Wife with Cary Grant, & An Affair to Remember with Cary Grant

Apphia~ On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando, North by Northwest with Cary Grant, The Guns of Navarone with Gregory Peck, & Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn

Achaia~ McLintock! with John Wayne, On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando, The Great Escape with Steve McQueen, & North by Northwest with Cary Grant

Abigail~ White Christmas with Bing Crosby, The Young Lions with Marlon Brando, Rio Bravo with John Wayne, & On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando

Abiah~ The Magnificent Seven with Steve McQueen, Never So Few with Frank Sinatra, On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando, & Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn

 

Okay.  We have one more question--- is everybody ready for fall? 

Much love! us

Celebrating Abigail American

Today we're celebrating our dear Abigail's 19th birthday!  There are so many things we could say about her.... things we love about her.  She's definitely one of the most hilarious people you'll ever know.  She's as cute as a button--- how many girls could wear the outfit she has on in these pictures and look that smashing?? (And we're not at all biased.)  Oh, and while we're talking about what we love about her, how about her hair.  Yes.  We regularly want to swap heads with her.  Absie is also a complete sewing speeder.  If you want something yesterday, she's your girl.  And she is always willing to help one of us out on a last  minute sewing project.  If all these things weren't enough, she has a beautiful heart, with a desire to please The Lord.  Did we mention we couldn't live without her??

Happy Birthday, Absie!! 

Hugs & Kisses~  Mom, Apphia, Achaia, & Abiah

PS... Okay, everyone!  Your turn to wish our stupendious daughter/sister a beautiful birthday! xo

Back now. (And with new fabric to boot!)

Okay, first things first -- special thanks go to our pal Jenny for letting you all in on our most recent computer problems.  (Love you, Jenny!)  Now for an extended explanation...

- Need some fun fabric?  Let us help you!!

- Want a skirt?  We can do that too.

- How 'bout a new bag?  Oh, yes!

- And you really need another apron?  We're your girls.

- A big slice of homemade pizza?  You betcha.

- Clean laundry?  Call on us!  (Well, maybe not for that.  We're never short of laundry.)

- Got square hay bales to haul?  Bring 'em on.

- Do you need a really good laugh?  We can give you a hand with that for sure!

- Do you have computer problems?  Uhhhhh... *blank stare*

That's just about how it goes.  You know it?  The man at the computer-fixer-upper place informed us that our motherboard (like duh, what's a motherboard?) had a manufacturer's defect.  But, praise God, here we are again back in business.  And with beautiful new fabric for you to drool over!

Our friend Tanya's newest collection -- Sugar Hill!!!  And you'll find it all at marie-madeline studio come December.  (Market is coming, which means lots of new fabric will be on its way before long...)  Is this gorgeous or what?!  We can't wait to get our hands on some.  Tanya has this way of pulling everything we love into her fabrics.  Look at that beautiful red and blue and pink.  Dots and roses and birdies all in one collection.  Tanya, you are amazing!  You all will have to run over to her blog to enter her giveaway.

We'll be back again soon, with our winners!

Ps. And thanks to Tanya for the lovely pictures.

Technical Difficulties

Hello everyone! It's Jenny Fish from Sew Pretty Dresses again. The sweet Long Ladies are having technical difficulties with their computer again and wanted me to tell you they are HOPING to be up and running again tomorrow. Lord willing. Love those sweet ladies!

So hang tight on the giveaway, they will be back soon to tell you the winners, and they will fill any orders that have been made in the past few days as soon as they can access their email
Blessings to you!

Four Winners!

It seems to us it's time to have a giveaway.  Agree??  Good.  And, we decided that just giving away one thing wasn't right.  So, we will have four winners!  Ready?

Here's details on the loot::

 

Honey Child fat quarter bundle (10 fat quarters)   

Shabby Chic jelly roll (18 3" strips)

Loulouthi jelly roll (20 3" strips)   

West Indies fat quarter bundle (14 fat quarters)

 

All these bundles are so cute, if we do say so ourselves!  We even like to use them for decoration.  Occasionally we sew with them too!

 

So!  Here's what you've got to do....

~leave us a comment! (naturally.)

~Give us your first and second bundle choice

~Tell us your favorite movie! 

~That's it!

 

This giveaway is open to everyone, so jump right in!

Much love~

XX the Long ladies

Edited PS--- We got so excited we forgot to mention when the giveaway closes.  Oops!  We're keeping it open until October 16th, and we'll plan to announce the winners on the 17th.  xoxo

barn yard days!

 

xxx, the Long ladies

lovin' it...

Our friend Tanya's new book!  Sew What You Love.  How's that for a sweet title?  Isn't the cover adorable?!  We can't wait to get our hands on a copy.  There is something about Tanya's style that just fits us Long ladies to a T.  You will probably recognize her name, because we have carried every fabric collection she's ever designed.  That's how much we love her.  (For all you Darla and Delilah fans, just wait till you see what Tanya's cooked up for the end of the year!)

Anyway, back to her lovely book.  It's available for pre-order right now!  Check it out at Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com.  And dash over to Tanya's blog to find out how to receive a free down-loadable bag pattern.

 

We have some news of our own to share, too.  Awhile back we finally bit the bullet.  The sort of overwhelming bullet of sending off our patterns to a new printing company.  We couldn't be any happier!!  Palmer did such a wonderful job.  So now you'll see some new pattern covers up in the shop.  They'll come to you in a new glossy package, with professionally folded pages.  And all the instructions are now on a single sheet, so it'll be harder to misplace them!

We also wanted to let all of you know that we've made the difficult decision to discontinue a couple of our patterns -- the bianca handbag and the summer shade jumper (sizes 2-10 or sizes 10-18).  They will be 50% off till they're gone!  And we won't be reprinting.  If you had your heart set on one of these patterns, please order it soon!

What do you think of these new covers?  (We'll show more later.)  Speaking of patterns, our heads are full of plans for new ones.  Is there anything in particular you'd like to see?

We're still working on the Joplin Quilt Project, with updates to post soon.

Love from the studio (where it's sunny today)~

XO, the Long ladies